10.02.2012

How To Eat An Elephant

I'll bet many players (myself included) are feeling just a bit overwhelmed since the launch of Mists of Pandaria. Whereas in Cataclysm I felt like a master of the universe, in Mists I'm feeling like quite the noob.

Why is this? For one thing I think Blizzard packed much more content into this expansion than any of us were expecting. On top of that, we have all these characters and professions to level. All these new areas to explore. All of these new gold-making techniques to work out.

So how do we deal with the overwhelming-ness of it all? Head past the jump for a few of my own ideas about the topic of how to adjust to Pandaria.A Whole New World

We asked for it and we got it. One of the major complaints I had about the Cataclysm expansion was that it felt like we didn't really have a large, new area to explore. Well, I think Blizzard heard us loud and clear. Pandaria seems like a vast and complex world. This goes for the zones as well as all the new gold-making techniques that we need to get up-to-speed on.

There are times when it is easy to feel that other gold-makers are doing so much better than we are. There are times when it is is easy to feel inadequate. Like we're falling behind while everyone else runs on ahead of us.

"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

This is really what we should be doing in our own gold-making (and WoW gameplay in general). It is easy to feel like there is too much new stuff. Too much to learn. How could we possibly do it all?

I'll venture a guess that there are those players out there (gold-makers and non) who feel large amounts of anxiety. The large amounts of "newness" are simply too much. Maybe they can't even bring themselves to even log into the game due to such thoughts.

It's to those players (and players like myself who sometimes feel like we're going "too slow") that I'll be talking to. If you're running "full-steam ahead" and are the type of player who is "king of the world" than maybe this post isn't for you.

So now that we have gotten up the courage to log into Mists of Pandaria how do we go about taking these "bites" of the elephant? Where do we begin to prepare ourselves to make gold in Mists of Pandaria?

One of the things that will likely come as good news to people who had vast crafting empires of alts in Cataclysm is that Blizzard has made leveling professions from level 525 to 600 quite a bit easier in this expansion than previously.

Leveling your professions is one small thing you can do to get your gold-making machine up to speed. Most times the characters won't even have to leave the city.

Also, the prices for mats to level your professions are likely cheap right now so don't feel the need to wait to level a gatherer before leveling your crafting professions. If you spend the gold to buy the mats you'll save yourself time and gain the peace of mind that comes from having your alt's professions maxed.

If you have Alchemists be sure to keep making items while leveling until you proc the learning of Trillium Bar and Living Steel transmutes.

Level Characters

Eventually you'll want to have your characters leveled up. Lucky for us Blizzard gave us a great leveling experience in Mists of Pandaria.

A phrase you'll hear many times from the Pandaren NPCs (and one I thing Blizzard wants it's player base to take to heart) is "Slow down.". This is really good advice. Take your time.

Don't feel bad if you take it slow while questing. Enjoy your first few times leveling through Mists of Pandaria. Logging into the game and spending even just 30 or 45 minutes leveling is yet another bite of the elephant that is Mists of Pandaria.

You'll have plenty of time to rush through the leveling experience later when you're leveling your 4th or 5th alt to level 90.

Don't Try To Keep Up

It is easy to see others in the gold-making community and think that you're falling behind somehow because they are making "x" amount of gold and you are only making "y".

We should never compare our weaknesses to other's strengths. There will always be someone out there that is better than you at something.

Unfortunately, we tend to only see our faults. We tend to only focus on the things we aren't doing and not on things we actually are doing.

We will be playing this expansion or at least another 2 years. 28 months. 108 weeks. 730 days. However you measure it we have plenty of time to get into our gold-making groove.

Each of us had own way of making gold in Cataclysm and that will also be true in Mists of Pandaria

Conclusion

The single most important thing you can do while playing Mists of Pandaria is to enjoy yourself.

If your finding that you're pushing yourself too hard, feeling bad about yourself and/or your progress (whether in leveling, gold-making, etc.) step back and remember that the journey is the destination.

You'll have everything you want in Mists of Pandaria. You will. You'll get there. If you start to feel overwhelmed just remember that you'll get there, one bite at a time.

7 comments
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Thank you for this! I spent the first few days of MoP driving my main to 90 and getting him geared for raiding, then the next several out of town. I was beginning to feel behind in the goblin scene. It's nice to know that not everyone is preaching "Get out and make that gold!"

Loved this post. Played wow for 2 years, and have just really started to learn various gold making techniques. Problem is the time. After work (12 hours) and spending time with 2 year old, i felt torn between leveling my priest healer, or leveling alts professions. You're article was a breath of fresh air. I appreciated it very much.

Hello, I noticed the "slow down" comment as well and actually thought about it. Pretty clever Blizz. I play in a very serious raiding guild and have thought about moving my toon to a less serious guild which will still run 10 mans. I feel like the serious guild is missing the point. I have a 89 Holy Priest and have not "leveled" at all. I have been wandering around questing, farming, running 5 man's. Just sat back and enjoyed the game at my lea sure. I think this is the way the game is intended to be played. I actually removed my xp bar because I don't care to see it and felt "overwhelmed" when I did see it. 90 will come in it's own time. Play the game as you like but when I go to bed I think to myself wow "wow" is awesome. Not damn I am really glad the grind fest is over. What happens when you get to ninety? you play end game content. Guess what you get to do for the next two years or so? Play end game content. This is the best time to own wow. The time where everything is new and most everyone is not in end game. Relish the rarity of this moment.

I understand the point of a serious raiding guild. I was top mage on my sever for over 1.5 years. I played the game differently this expansion and am glad I did. Thank you for pointing that out for me though. As I stated "Play the game as you like". I am proud of my article and hope someone is able to understand the point of it or even better gets something positive out of it.